2009

My good friend Sarmad Ali recently left New York to visit his family in Baghdad for the first time since he first arrived in the United States in August 2004. Since then, his life has been full of astonishing (and sometimes amusing) triumph: he graduated from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism with a Master’s in journalism with me in May 2005, got a job as a reporter with the Wall Street Journal, and now has a green card and…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on WiFi cafés will be on All Things Considered today (September 29)! It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams). New York – 4 pm to 6:30 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 4 pm to 6 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 3:30 pm to 6:30 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM…

Apparently, Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade has commissioned a 160-ft high bronze statue commemorating the “African Renaissance.” The statue, “shows a muscular man in a heroic posture, outstretched arms wrapped around his wife and child, who is balanced on one of his biceps,” reports the Associated Press. Plus, the entire group is coming out of a volcano. (Last I checked there weren’t any volcanos anywhere close to Senegal.) Senegalese media reports that the statue will be dedicated in a grandiose ceremony…

My cousin and Iran analyst extraordinaire, Karim Sadjadpour, will be speaking this Thursday on the UC Berkeley campus to discuss: the impact of Iran’s elections on the balance of power within Iran and on its foreign policy. Sadjadpour will also assess the implications of recent events on US policy options. The Travers Lecture Series on US Foreign Policy is co-sponsored by the Institute of International Studies and the Institute of Governmental Studies. Throughout the 2009-2010 academic year, the IIS and…

Amigos y Amigas, For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on a grant to produce a one-hour, bilingual radio documentary about the history of taco trucks in California. I’m pleased to announce that I’ve just submitted it to the California Council for the Humanities! Here are the opening paragraphs of our grant application: In California Spanglish, they’re known as loncheras. But in English, they’re known simply as taco trucks. Regardless of what you call them, most Californians simply…

In honor of His Excellency, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech before the United Nations General Assembly, I hereby propose a drinking game: Now, safety first, kids: no drinking before age 21 (if you’re in the United States), drink responsibly, and if you are drinking under-age or irresponsibly, it’s not my fault. That aside, grab your favorite brew, find some friends, and cozy up to the radio, TV, or this MSNBC webcast sometime around 4 pm…

The Associated Press, September 21, 2009: For a new crop of journalists, with many more wannabes starting journalism school this fall, tumult in the news industry means new opportunities for connecting with readers online, but also fresh anxiety about finding a way to get paid for it. Consider the latest job market statistics. According to a survey released this summer by Lee Becker at the University of Georgia, only six in 10 graduates from journalism and mass communication schools during…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my commentary on Park(ing) Day will be on Weekend Edition Sunday (September 20)! It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams). New York – 8 to 10 am Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 to 10 am Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 5 to 10 am Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 8…

So I have a set of data in a Google Docs spreadsheet of SF Bay Area Farmer’s Markets. Each market has data for the following columns: Day, County, Location, Hours, Months, Intersection, City, State, ZIP, Phone, URL. There are entries for over 100 markets. What I want is a simple web page (ideally iPhone-friendly) that will have a few text input fields: ZIP, City, Day (or even a pull-down menu for each one). Then based on those inputs, the program…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on the new Iraqi law to censor the Internet is airing today. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): NYC – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern – WGBH –…